Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Corporate Responsibility in athletic wear

For the last few pairs of shoes I've bought, I have made a donation to Team Sweat and Jim Keady to support their mission to bring justice and equality to laborers in SE Asia. Most of the shoes I wear are ASICS and in addition to donations, I always accompany them with a letter to ASICS to remind them of my interest in this subject and how I am contributing to it. I have previously posted one of my letters and I sent a similar letter this week.

ASICS reports on their website that they are committed to social responsibility in all levels of product development and production. However, their website is years out of date and does not greatly detail what steps they are taking to address factory working conditions. I am pleased to say that my last letter (from June 2010) garnered a response from Vivienne in ASICS Corporate Responsibility office who appreciated my letter and reported she would do her best to address my concerns. Unfortunately, not much on the website has changed, but we'll see how things develop.